, Before me, Capt. A. J. Hackl being authorized to administer oaths, personally appeared Adolf Zutter, former adjutant of Mauthausen, who, being by me first duly sworn in German, made and subscribed the following statement in his own handwriting:
My name is Adolf Zutter, born 10 February 1889. I was the adjutant at Mauthausen since June 1942 and I give the following statement:
Standartenfuehrer Ziereis, the commander of Camp Mauthausen, gave me a large number of orders of executions after opening the secret mail, because I was the adjutant and I had to deliver these to 1st Lt. [Obersturmfuehrer] Schulz. These orders of execution were written approximately in the following form:
Agency (Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
Reich criminal Police Office) Berlin,..... (date)
To:
Commander of the Concentration Camp Mauthausen.
Subject: Executions
Reference: Your letter from (date) of ....File No........
The prisoners, mentioned above
name: ..........born.......... at............
are to be executed according to the sentence of the special court of justice [Sondergericht]—or tribunal of the people—[Volksgerich] (followed by locality).
A report that the order has been executed must be sent.
. Signature
Orders for execution also came without the name of the court of justice. Until assassination of Heydrich, these orders were signed by him or by his competent deputy; later on, the orders were signed by Kaltenbrunner, but mostly they were signed by his deputy Maj. Gen. [Gruppenfuehrer] Mueller.
Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner who signed the above-mentioned orders, had the rank of SS-General [SS-Obergruppenfuehrer] and was the chief of Reich Security Main office [RSHA].
Dr. Kaltenbrunner is about 40 years old, height about 1,76 to 1,80 m, and has deep fencing scars in his face.
When Dr. Kaltenbrunner was only a Higher SS and Police Officer he visited the camp several times, later on as the chief of Reich Security Main Office [RSHA] he visited the camp too, though this occurred much more infrequently. During these visits the commander usually received him outside the building of the camp headquarters and reported concerning the American military mission, which landed behind the German front in the Slovakian or Hungarian area in January, 1945.
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I remember, when these officers were brought to Camp Mauthausen—I suppose the number of the arrivals were about 12 to 15 men—they wore a uniform which was American or Canadian: brown-green color, shirt and cloth cap. Eight or ten days after their arrival the execution order came in by telegraph or teletype. Standartenfuehrer Ziereis came to me into my office and told me: Now Kaltenbrunner has given the permission for the execution. This letter was secret and had the signature: signed Kaltenbrunner. Then, these people were shot according to martial law and their belongings were given to me by 1st Sgt. [Obe'r-scharfeuhrer] Niedermeyer. Spring 1945, the written order— based on an Army Manual—to destroy all files was received by the security officer in Mauthausen, SS first Lt. [Obersturmfueh-rer] Reimer. This order was sent by SS 2nd Lt. [Understurm-fuehrer] Meinhardt, security officer of the office D in Oranienburg. Reimer himself gave this order in written form to the various officers and supervised execution. Among the files were also all the execution orders.
[signed] Adolf Zutter
This declaration has been written down by me with my own handwriting on 3 pages, at Lira, Austria, Germany on 2 August 1945 at 1045 hours voluntarily and without duress.
I swear by God Almighty, that I will say nothing but the full truth, that I will not keep anything silent, and will not add anything.
Adolf Zutter Police Prison, Linz
Subscribed and sworn to before me at Linz, Austria this second day of August 1945. I have a comprehensive knowledge of the German language.
A. J. HACKL, Capt. OD
Investigating officer
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